““Huge waves, a mile from crest to crest, roared down upon the pygmies that were to be their prey; sometimes the entire surface of the water would be blown bodily away, and any ship that stood in the path of that onslaught shook and staggered as tons of green sea smote her upper deck and raced in a torrent down her whole length. Boats were smashed, funnels were buckled, bridges and deck-houses were crushed out of shape: men disappeared overboard without trace and without a cry, sponged out of life like figures wiped from a blackboard at a single imperious stroke.””
